


Blood on her Hands and Water in her Veins

by chararii



Series: Blood and Water [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anbu Haruno Sakura, BAMF Haruno Sakura, Family Secrets, Gen, Haruno Sakura-centric, Homecoming, Identity Issues, POV Haruno Sakura, Racism, Sakura puppy crushing on Mei
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24649153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chararii/pseuds/chararii
Summary: They say blood is thicker than water but to Sakura, they are one and the same. She carries her family's legacy, one of blood and violence and follows in her ancestor's path even as her soul is restless so far from home.Sakura is not from Konoha and nothing changes.(Everything does.)
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura & Terumi Mei
Series: Blood and Water [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783150
Comments: 28
Kudos: 626
Collections: One shots





	Blood on her Hands and Water in her Veins

For as long as she can remember she's lived in Konoha. It's nice enough, she supposes with its bright sunny days, fresh forest-y air and peaceful environment. She smiles at people and people smile at her which feels... wrong. She doesn't know why but for some reason, Sakura expects the baring of sharp teeth instead.

She spends most of her time on the edge of rivers and lakes. There are few water sources around, one of the largest being part of the Uchiha compound which is forbidden to her. The children around her climb trees and sit on grass and stay away from water because most of them are too young to swim yet. She never joins them and grows older without friends by her side. It doesn't bother Sakura much.

Her parents try and try to properly integrate into the village but it doesn't really seem to work out. She is young yet, too young to understand the whispers and stares, how her mother has to haggle with merchants to pay the same amount for food they so desperately need than the people around her who haggle to get it for less. Konoha is not as nice as she thinks, not for people like her, but Sakura's not ready to learn that lesson just yet.

When she's old enough she brings home the registration paper and her parents sign it without another word as if they're not surprised. They're not happy, she knows, but they do it anyway. Their hands move over the paper without second thought as if they had been preparing for this moment all her life. As if it's normal. Expected. They're a family of civilians but sometimes Sakura thinks they don't act like it.

She aces written exams and absorbs the information they hand her like a sponge but not all is well. Kunai and shuriken give her the most trouble, they're shaped wrong for her hands, too small, too light, too finicky. Her grades are abysmal and she's afraid they're going to fail her and make her go home instead. Her mother hands her senbon and they work. Her father hands Sakura an old training sword and it _works_.

Time passes and she passes with it, always lingering on the edge of people's awareness, sticking out and made fun of only for the colour of her hair. She has top marks in everything that's theory and only barely passes weapon classes. There's a feeling of wrongness in whatever they try to teach her and even years of education weren't enough for her to adapt and it shows. She isn't part of anyone's circle but it suits Sakura just fine.

She graduates and life feels so lacklustre that she wonders if this is what the rest of her days will be like. Her team is loud and she doesn't fit in, doesn't try to. The only reason her teacher pays attention to her is her sword. He underestimates her and almost loses an arm for it. He hides his face but Sakura knows his teeth are sharp and while it's better than the rest, they're still not sharp enough.

Wave is where she feels like she can _breathe_ for the first time in her life. The air is wet and salty, mist hugs her form like a second skin, their enemies wield weapons and their fight is brutal and bloody. She tastes crimson on her lips after taking her first life and it makes something inside Sakura sing.

Haku and Zabuza, she thinks, are a tragedy. She stands in front of their graves and if she could she thinks she would weep. Her fingers reverently trace the edge of Kubikiribōchō, cutting her fingers as thin red lines run down the metal one last time. It's her tribute for all they've done and for how, during their last big fight, despite her fearsome skill with her own sword, they never once raised arms against Sakura.

Going back to Konoha doesn't feel like coming home. The air is wrong, the people are wrong, the forests evoking something close to disgust. There's an itch just underneath her skin so she trains and trains and trains until it splits open and her blood taints the grass beneath her. Her teacher tells her to stop and Sakura resents him for it. He's soft and weak like the rest of the country, daunted by a little blood with fangs that don't live up to their name.

Weeks of feeling restless are unleashed in the Forest of Death. Her team has long since given up on trying to fit their jagged pieces together so she ignores them and tears through the forest, leaving behind a trail of blood and broken dreams. The other two run to catch up with Sakura and because of that, unbeknownst to them, avoid an entirely different breed of disaster.

It's after the match against the Yamanaka that ended too swiftly and too bloody for anyone's liking, that her teacher finally sees her parents. They nod and frown when appropriate, accept his criticism, agree to watch over her a little more closely. She has known her parents all her life and as she sits and nods with them realises that they're both entirely insincere. For Sakura, nothing changes.

She's not promoted and it doesn't surprise her, even if she gets the news weeks after the actual exams turned Suna invasion when the village is mostly rebuilt and they have a new Hokage. The woman tells her that she's too vicious, too focused on herself to be much of a potential leader. Her mother tells her not to worry and says that somewhere else, they would have promoted Sakura long ago.

As the only remaining member of fractured Team 7, her teacher is assigned as her master and he calls her apprentice. She has a hard time wrapping her head around that for despite their shared preference for sharp blades and ninjutsu he never seemed to like her much. She's used to being watched by him no matter what she does like he's just waiting for her to snap and go crazy. Now that he's around her 24/7 it's obvious just how little he truly trusts Sakura.

They train exclusively with live weaponry and her parents approve. She comes home covered in her own blood and soon, his too. They dance around each other, bond over mutual distrust and pure unadulterated viciousness that she never bothered to hide and he hides so well she's never seen it before. It paints the conversation he had with Sakura's parents in an entirely new light.

Two years later, as newly minted chuunin, a mission leads her to Water and it makes her teacher wary. He leads her away from villages whenever possible, avoids any and all confrontations with actual people. She no longer questions his oddities and focuses on breathing the air instead, setting up camp near the shore and swimming to her heart's delight whenever possible. She loves this country and he looks at her more and more like Sakura's about to run off just like everyone else did.

It doesn't take long until he's no longer enough and they both know it. It is then that she realises that he has been assigned to her because only he can match her. Only he can take and deal the kind of violence that she thrives on, only he is able to sate her lust for blood. Until he isn't. They quietly break their contract and, hand in hand, join the shadows.

He's her taichou now and together with two others, they clear out villages, set up executions, bathe entire towns in red. Hound, Tiger, Bear and Wolverine are the worst of the worst, mass murderers that make even veteran jounin shiver as they pass. Around them the world moves on, prodigal sons return, traitors come home, old evils are defeated and broken teams reform. Hound leaves but Wolverine stays.

Just once she asks her mother about her family. Realistically she has always known that they're not from Konoha. They never quite fit in, too sharp for the sheep around them and too dissatisfied with the way of life of their environment. But she never outright asked. It doesn't tell her much but there is a heaviness in her mother's words as she reveals her maiden name as if she just revealed a great and terrible secret.

Wolverine confronts not-Hound during a shared escort mission to Grass which she's only on because she asked since not-Hound is impossible to get a hold of otherwise and when she speaks the name his face turns grim. He tells her to keep it to herself and never speak of it again. She's not much wiser than before.

There's unrest in the village, fearful conversations and hushed whispers of 'Chigiri' in dark alleys just days before the new Mizukage is set to arrive for a state visit. Sakura, who uses water jutsu, swings swords and sharp blades better than anyone else in the village, spilled more blood than most, feels her heart beat just a little faster.

She is tall and gorgeous, she thinks as she sees the Mizukage for the first time. There's something utterly enchanting about her, saccharine smiles and heavy lids not enough to hide _sharp_ teeth and _sharp_ eyes and this woman makes her fingers itch, her insides roil, her heart yearn. She's all smooth edges on the outside but _sharpsharpsharp_ on the inside like a perfectly cut diamond. She catches a whiff of her in the hallways once and underneath the soft fruity notes there's a hint of iron.

It's entirely by accident that she comes in to report on a mission and the Mizukage is there in the office, eyeing her like a predator would look at a rabbit. She's told to come back later and as she turns around to leave, the Mizukage asks her to stay for a moment. She turns around, face and hair bare after a rare mission as not-Wolverine, vulnerable to this woman's scrutiny.

“She's one of mine, isn't she.”

It's not a question and Sakura frowns but the Hokage doesn't seem surprised and simply offers half a nod. She's asked about her name so she says Haruno Sakura. Then her father's name so she answers Haruno Kizashi. A glint enters the Mizukage's eye as she, last but not least, demands her mother's name. She remembers not-Hound's words, then throws them into the wind.

“Karatachi Mebuki.”

Victory flashes across her face and Sakura admires the image. She looks at her and sees blood, steel and power in her heart, smells the salt and copper on her, hears the call of the waves and the ocean. She wants to reach out to touch her, to grasp what she embodies, to finally belong.

“You may call me Mei, Karatachi-chan,” she says and smiles.

(There's blood on their hands and water in their veins and the wide, vast, beautiful sea that calls them home.)

**Author's Note:**

> I like Kiri, ok? I would have liked for this to be a whole thing but sadly I can't commit to multi chapter stories and I prefer short paragraph works.
> 
> Also, Kiri!Sakura as baby Yagura with a crush on Mei. Nobody asked for it but here it is anyway.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it! :)


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